1920: Evil Returns (2012)

1920 – Evil Returns is a Hindi horror movie directed by Bhushan Patel and produced by Vikram Bhatt. It is the sequel of 2008 horror flick 1920 which had seen some success on the box office. The film stars Aftab Shivdasani, Tia Bajpai and Sagar Saikia. The film doesn’t have any connection with the story or characters of the original film of 2008, though it follows the similar kind of plot and character treatment also is very close. The film is about a woman who gets possessed by an evil spirit and the efforts of the man who loves her to save her. The movie was not received that well by the critics who found the novelty factor missing. Though it managed to do well at the domestic box office and found more success than its prequel.

Cast:

Aftab Shivdasani: Jaidev Verma

Tia Bajpai: Smruti

Vidya Malvade: Karuna

Sharad Kelkar: Amar

Vicky Ahuja: Bankimlal

Sanjay Sharma: Bhola

Naresh Sharma: Horse carriage driver

Storyline:

The film begins with giving the glimpse of the life of Jaidev Verma (Aftab Shivdasani), a famous poet but loner in his personal life. It is revealed that he had fallen in love with a girl Smriti (Tia Bajpai) whom he had never met. They had developed feelings towards each other through exchange of letters. However before they could unite, a letter to Jaidev informs him about the demise of Smriti in an accident. Jaidev becomes a recluse and his only company is his sister Karuna (Vidya Malvade). One day a weird thing happens. Jaidev finds an unconscious girl near a lake closer to his home and he brings her to his house. After gaining consciousness the girl claims that she doesn’t remember anything. The strange thing is that even after memory loss the girl is able to remember all the poems of Jaidev. Karuna doesn’t believe in girl but Jaidev insists on keeping her in the home by the time her condition improves and names her Sangeeta.

However her presence in the house leads to happening of strange, spooky things. Karuna senses that something is wrong with the girl. Her fears are confirmed when on the way to see the doctor Sangeeta gets completely possessed by the evil spirit that has been the reason for the weird activities in the house. By this time Jaidev realises that Sangeeta is in fact Smriti and she needs his help. He visits Smriti’s home to find more about her. Upon returning he finds his sister missing. Later he finds her hanging in the forest. Karuna’s letter reveals the complete mystery.

Amar (Sharad Kelkar), once a best friend of Jaidev, is the one behind all this. He envied Jaidev’s success and to ruin his personal life he posed as his friend in front of Smriti. However, he is killed in a freak accident when he tries to force himself on her at his home. His spirit then enters Smriti’s body and is responsible for everything going wrong in Jaidev’s life, including his sister’s death. Jaidev seeks help from a cemetery keeper to force Amar’s spirit to leave Smriti’s body. He suggests taking her to Amar’s home where the remains of his body lie. The touch of Smriti’s body with that of Amar would compel his spirit to leave her and at that very moment his body should be set on fire. Jaidev then decides to make this last ditch effort to save his love. This sets up an exciting climax.

Awards: -

Box Office:

The film had a good beginning at the box office considering its genre and face value of the lead actors. It earned around 11 crores in the opening weekend. The film finished its run with around 20.5 crores which was enough for the makers as well as distributors to make some decent profit. It was declared a semi-hit at the box office.